Modern - Slashdot User

Sci Fi Channel Becoming Less Geek-Centric "SyFy" 798

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday March 16, 2009 @04:51PM from the or-you-could-quit-cancelling-good-programs dept.

narramissic writes "According to a TV Week article, NBC Universal has decided to change the name of their Sci Fi Channel to SyFy. Why? To pull in a more 'mainstream' audience. If you're unclear what 'more mainstream' means, TV Historian Tim Brooks spells it out for you: 'The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular.' Yes, we should probably all be offended. And telling us that a crack marketing team came up with the name because that's how tech-savvy 18-to-34 year-olds would text it really doesn't help."

Comment Why stop at video games? (Score 1) 615

by Modern on Wednesday March 11, 2009 @02:11PM (#27154395) Attached to: UK To Mull High Video Game Taxes — To Fight Knife Crime

Why stop at video games? Why not cops and robbers, cowboys and indians. or even army men and dinosaurs. Do not forget the lincoln log and lego forts used as cover.

Submission + - Majel Barrett Roddenberry enters final frontier. 2

Submitted by OpenYourEyes on Thursday December 18, 2008 @06:20PM

OpenYourEyes writes: Roddenberry Productions has announced that Majel Barret Roddenberry, "The First Lady of Star Trek", "passed away this morning, December 18, 2008, at 12:27 AM in her Bel Air home. She died peacefully, in her sleep, and was surrounded by family and loved ones."

Majel had several roles both in and out of the Star Trek universe.

Submission + - iPhone drives up Wi-Fi use (itnews.com.au)

Submitted by on Thursday December 18, 2008 @04:17PM

An anonymous reader writes: AdMob's latest report on mobile 'requests' to serve ads from its network reveals iPhones are the most used device on Wi-Fi networks in the U.S. Ad requests over Wi-Fi networks have more than doubled since August [PDF], and the iPhone and iTouch are the dominant access devices. Other handset makers like RIM are rising in stature, while Nokia is a popular choice among UK Wi-Fi users.

Ars Examines Outlandish "Lost To Piracy" Claims and Figures 380

Posted by timothy on Thursday October 09, 2008 @02:03PM from the there-were-more-doubloons-here-I-swear-to-you dept.

Nom du Keyboard writes "For years the figures of $200 billion and 750,000 jobs lost to intellectual property piracy have been bandied about, usually as a cudgel to demand ever more overbearing copyright laws with the intent of diminishing of both Fair Use and the Public Domain. Now ARS Technica takes a look into origin and validity these figures and finds far less than the proponents of them might wish."

Geneticist Claims Human Evolution Is Over 857

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday October 09, 2008 @12:27AM from the flame-on dept.

GogglesPisano writes "UK geneticist Steve Jones gave a presentation entitled Human Evolution Is Over. He asserts that human beings have stopped evolving because modern social customs have lowered the age at which human males have offspring, which results in fewer of the mutations necessary to drive evolutionary change. Apparently the fate of our species now depends upon older guys hooking up with younger woman. I, for one, welcome this development."

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